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On this day: July 3

2013: President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military and placed under house arrest following four days of protests all over the country calling for his resignation. A coalition led by the Egyptian army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared Adly Mansour, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, as the country's interim president.

2007: The sci-fi action blockbuster "Transformers" opens in theaters. The movie, which was an adaptation of the Transformers toy line and animated series from the 1980s, would earn nearly $710 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest grossing movie of the year and the top-grossing non-sequel of 2007.

2005: Spain becomes the third country in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry, after the Netherlands and Belgium, and 17 days ahead of Canada.

1996: "Independence Day" opens in theaters, making a movie star out of Will Smith and topping the box office charts for four-straight weeks.

1993: Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Don Drysdale, who won three World Series titles in his 14 seasons with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, dies of a heart attack at the age of 56 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Drysdale was a nine-time All-Star who won the Cy Young Award in 1962.

1991: "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick and Edward Furlong, and directed by James Cameron, opens in theaters. The sci-fi sequel earned $54 million its opening weekend, ranking it as the second-largest opening to that point in movie history, and would earn nearly $520 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie of 1991.

1989: Actor Jim Backus, best known for playing the millionaire Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island" and for voicing the cartoon character "Mr. Magoo," dies at the age of 78 in Los Angeles from complications of pneumonia, after suffering from Parkinson's disease for many years. Backus also played James Dean's character's father in "Rebel Without a Cause" and starred in his own short-lived show, "The Jim Backus Show."

1988: United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard, after the crew mistakenly identified the civilian jet airliner as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter.

1986: Singer, actor and saxophonist Rudy Vallée, one of the first modern teen idol pop stars, dies of cancer at age 84 in Los Angeles, California. The most popular of "crooner" singers, he often sang through a megaphone and became a movie star in the 1930s and '40s, appearing in movies such as "The Palm Beach Story," "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

1985: "Back to the Future" premieres in theaters. The movie would go on to dominate the box office the rest of the summer, staying at No. 1 for 10 of the next 11 weeks.

1981: The Associated Press runs its first story about two rare illnesses afflicting homosexual men. One of the diseases was later named AIDS.

1979: U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul, Afghanistan

1971: Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, dies of a heroin overdose at age 27 in Paris, France.

1969: Former Rolling Stones member Brian Jones is found dead in his home's swimming pool in Hartfield, Sussex, England. Jones was a founding member of the Rolling Stones, but had been asked to leave the band less than a month before his death at age 27.

1969: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket (similar to the one seen here on its way to the launch tower) explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket had been intended to launch a probe on an oribit and flyby of the moon to photograph possible manned landing sites, but the explosion delayed launches for 18 months while the launchpad was rebuilt.

1965: Trigger, the palomino horse made famous in western films with his owner and rider, cowboy star Roy Rogers, dies in his early 30s. Trigger is seen here with Lynne Roberts and Rogers in 1938's "Billy the Kid Returns."

1962: Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1962: Actor Tom Cruise, known for movies such as "Risky Business," "Top Gun," "Rain Man," "A Few Good Men," "Mission: Impossible" and "Jerry Maguire," is born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New York. Cruise has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards in his blockbuster career.

1956: Talk show host Montel Williams, best known as host of the long-running "The Montel Williams Show," is born in Baltimore, Maryland.

1952: The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress.

1951: Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" is released.

1947: Author and comedian Dave Barry, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005 as well as humor books and novels, is born in Armonk, New York.

1943: Actor Kurtwood Smith, best known for the sitcom "That '70s Show" and for movies such as "Robocop" and "Dead Poets Society," is born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin.

1937: Jacob Schick, the inventor and entrepreneur who patented the first electric razor and started the Schick Dry Shaver, Inc. razor company, dies from complications due to a kidney operation at age 59 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1922: Fruit Garden and Home magazine is introduced. It would later be renamed Better Homes and Gardens.

1890: Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

1886: Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor.

1883: Author Franz Kafka, best known for works like the short story "The Metamorphosis" and novels like "The Trial" and "The Castle," is born in Prague, Austria-Hungary.

1878: Musician, playwright, actor and composer George M. Cohan, who wrote more than 500 songs during his lifetime, including the standards "Over There," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "The Yankee Doodle Boy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag," is born in Providence, Rhode Island. His life and music were depicted in the Academy Award-winning James Cagney film "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

1863: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge, as shown here in stereoscope panorama by photographer H.H. Bennett. The battle, which saw the largest number of casualties during the Civil War, was won by Union forces and is often described as the war's turning point

1819: The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.

1775: During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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